International Respect for Chickens Day 2012

In 2005, United Poultry Concerns declared May 4th International Respect for Chickens Day. It makes sense to have a special day to recognize chickens, who are the most abused animals on the planet. Those raised for meat are slaughtered at 45 days of age, if, indeed, they manage to survive the considerable toll that the industry

Are you thinking about wearing feather hair extensions? Consider learning the facts first. I actually put up a post about feathers and down about two months ago, but I only mentioned at the end the burgeoning trend of wearing long rooster feathers as hair extensions. Though the feathers were originally used as bait for fly

Down and feathers sometimes get left out of debates about animal cruelty, but that’s partly because many people just aren’t aware of the considerable suffering that goes into down-filled coats, pillows, or comforters, as well as all those pretty decorative feathers you see being worn with jewelry or as hair extensions. The biggest issue is

Some chicken-related news in honour of International Day of Respect for Chickens 2011. (You can read about the history of this holiday, which was started by United Poultry Concerns, in last year’s blog post.) The University of Bristol’s Animal Welfare and Behaviour research group performed a study in which chicks were exposed to “a puff

From United Poultry Concerns, another article which reminds us that organic, free range, and “all natural” animal products aren’t nearly as good as we’d expect them to be: Virginia farm supplies eateries in D.C. despite animal-care violations (You can also read a complete account of the situation at United Poultry Concerns’ page.) After months of

Today is International Respect for Chickens Day, an event “to celebrate chickens throughout the world and protest the bleakness of their lives in farming operations.” Begun in 2005 by United Poultry Concerns, International Respect for Chickens Day is quickly becoming an annual tradition for animal rights activists. Chickens are by far the most abused animals

Good news. A lawsuit alleging the U.S. egg industry conspired to increase consumer prices got a boost recently when a defendant turned over documents and internal memos that show an industry group called for egg producers to slow production. The lawsuit alleges that as egg prices climbed between 2004 and 2008, industry officials who blamed

Showing a clear lack of respect for the well-being of animals, several University of Victoria students released (some accounts say “tossed”) 6 hens into MLA Ida Chong’s office in Victoria during a Dogwood Initiative rally on Tuesday. Dogwood Initiative is a BC-based environmental organization that has dealt with issues like urban sprawl and tankers on

Remember how when you were in school, everyone made fun of how horrible the cafeteria food was? At my school, at least, there was a rumour that our food was grade F, and that prisoners received grade D. Regardless of how true that is, there’s a reason that school food sucks. It’s this: “USA Today

Ok, this is just plain crazy. There’s a kosher poultry slaughterhouse in New York State that has been operating without state or federal inspection since 2002. According to a story in the NY Daily News: A filthy Kosher slaughterhouse was able to sell more than 1.7 million uninspected birds to consumers in the past five